This invention concerns an equipment-holder bar for a rolling mill stand.
The equipment-holder bar according to the invention is fitted advantageously to rolling mill stands so as to position correctly and to clamp in a desired position the equipment and particularly, but not only, a guide box fitted upstream and possibly also downstream of a rolling mill stand so as to guide the rolled stock.
This equipment-holder bar is installed in cooperation with the specific rolling pass defined by the rolling rolls.
The rolling mill stands of the state of the art entail a series of problems linked to the fact that they have to align and guide the rolled stock being fed so as to ensure the correct rolling of the rolled stock.
In particular, a guide box for the rolled stock is fitted for this purpose upstream of the rolling mill stand and has precisely the task of aligning and guiding the rolled stock immediately upstream of the specific rolling pass defined by the rolling rolls.
These guide boxes for the rolled stock can also be fitted downstream of the rolling mill stand. They entail the problem, however, that they have to be positioned first on the rolling mill stand and thereafter have to be clamped in that position so that they cannot be displaced.
In view of the present high rolling speeds the positioning has to be very accurate; at the present time these guide boxes for the rolled stock are installed on carriages able to run crosswise to the inlet of the rolling mill stand in one direction or the other.
These movable carriages are generally driven by a screw associated with a motor, which is actuated to achieve a millimetric alignment of the rolled stock in relation to the rolling pass.
These positioner carriages include clamping means, which are actuated when the guide box for the rolled stock has been aligned with the rolling pass.
This positioning and clamping system, however, has been found unsatisfactory inasmuch as the carriage undergoes very strong and continuous stresses during the passage of the rolled stock travelling at a high speed even greater than 100 meters per second.
Moreover, the rolled stock being fed, if it is not well aligned, damages the inlet of the guide box.
Furthermore, these stresses entail very strong vibrations and noises which create problems for the apparatus itself and for the surrounding environment.
Besides, owing to the high temperature of the rolled stock being fed, the guide box is cooled continuously with a great flow of water; this cooling water and the scale which becomes detached from the rolled stock passing through are deposited on the screw that adjusts and moves the movable carriage bearing the guide box, thus involving a set of problems due to wear, incorrect functioning, breakages, etc.
So as to obviate these problems, embodiments have been disclosed in which attempts have been made to stiffen the structure of the carriage bearing the guide box for the rolled stock and to reduce the infiltrations of water, scale and other debris into the inside of the carriage by closing the carriage at its upper and lower sides.